The Promised Day - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Before long, the doorbell rang.

The delivery guy saw the limited-edition Bulgari necklace around my neck.

First, he took a step back.

Then he forced himself to stay calm, pulled out the delivery slip, and had me sign for it.

As he kept sneaking glances, he said, “I’ve seen a lot of pet snakes, but yours… is the most special.”

[It is special. It’s lived for thousands of years and can even turn into a human.]

[I’m dying. The second the delivery guy walked out, he messaged his girlfriend: “Babe! I saw someone wearing a snake around her neck like a necklace! Honestly, it actually looked pretty good…” Then he asked if she wanted one too, and his girlfriend told him to get his head checked hahahaha.]

The comments flashed past one after another.

I sat on the floor and assembled the pet enclosure according to the tutorial on my phone.

A pet enclosure this expensive didn’t even come preassembled. Unbelievable.

Suddenly, several messages popped up on my screen.

They were all from my brother:

“Looks like Zhou Yanxu got dumped. He’s been drinking himself stupid every day. Serves him right, hahaha.”

“I also heard the pet snake their family keeps went missing. Everyone in the Zhou Family is searching for it like they’ve gone insane. Old Master Zhou even announced that whoever finds the pet snake first gets to inherit fifty percent of the Zhou Family shares.”

“Do you think if your brother picked it up, I’d get to inherit them?”

I glanced at the little white snake I’d just placed inside the pet enclosure to see if it fit.

If the Zhou Family found out their precious snake had been stolen by your dear sister…

Whether you’d inherit the shares, I couldn’t say.

But getting hunted down was a given.

I put the lid on the pet enclosure. Done!

Through the glass, I poked the little snake’s bewildered face. “From now on, you’ll live here.”

[Help, I can see huge words of despair written all over Zhou Ci’s face: I don’t wanna be separated from Ying Xu!]

[Who told him to pretend to be a pet snake and trick the female lead? A pet snake belongs in a pet enclosure~]

[Zhou Ci, listen to me. Stop pretending to be an innocent pet snake. This lane doesn’t suit you. You should reveal your true form and do it with the female lead for two hundred chapters!!! I’m a distinguished VIP, this request isn’t too much, right?]

[It’s fine, it’s fine. Once the female lead falls asleep, you can do whatever~ you~ want~]

The little snake hissed twice.

Its golden vertical pupils stared fixedly at me, its gaze like it had locked onto its prey.

I rubbed my eyes, and the little snake turned back into that harmless, adorable thing from before.

Sure enough, I was seeing things.

The comments didn’t appear again for the entire afternoon.

That night, I lay in bed.

Watching the play of light and shadow from the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, I kept thinking about the fantastical events that had happened during the day, and all the things the comments had said.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t fall asleep.

At long last, drowsiness came over me. I turned off the light and closed my eyes.

Then a rustling sound slipped into my ears.

Something was moving across the floor.

I was so tense I held my breath, my fingers instinctively clenching the sheets.

A chill brushed over my ankle, then climbed up along my calf, winding tightly around both my legs.

I knew this feeling all too well.

It was… a snake’s tail.

Only, it felt completely different from during the day. Thick, long, and powerful, with scales that pressed uncomfortably against my skin.

In an instant, I understood where the marks on my body had come from.

The ice-cold snake tail coiled around me and moved upward, inch by inch. I didn’t know where it touched, but I couldn’t help trembling, and my eyes flew open on instinct.

My gaze crashed straight into those familiar golden vertical pupils, magnified many times over.

One person and one snake stared at each other for a long time.

The snake was the first to speak. “Sorry. I woke you up.”

That low, magnetic voice was apologizing, but his tail didn’t loosen in the slightest. If anything, it wrapped around me even tighter.

I stared and stared at the snake, my mind blank.

Getting bigger was one thing. How had he changed color too?

The Little White Snake had turned into a big Black Snake.

His pitch-black scales reflected a faint, cold gleam in the moonlight spilling in from outside the window.

One by one, everything the comments had mentioned was being proven true.

Absurd, yet traceable all along.